ABSTRACT
The first part of this book considers salient characteristics of contemporary teach ing, national reforms aimed at changing the way that teachers are prepared, and pro fessional development. The second part presents an ethnographic account of how Japanese beginning teachers learn to teach. This account mirrors teaching in general and specifically illuminates what novices are expected to learn in order to become teachers and how they are enculturated into teaching. Although this ethnographic analysis is based on a case study of a small number of beginning teachers, it sheds lights on the culture of teaching in Japan: teachers’ shared beliefs, sociocultural knowl edge, and time-honored practices. Although this analysis is embedded in the data col lected in 1989-1990 and published in 1995 (Shimahara & Sakai), in my view it remains valid and helps explain the Japanese culture of teaching. Since 1990, I con ducted two major ethnographic research projects for a total of a year and a half (Shimahara, 1997, 1999)— one year in 1994-1995 and a half-year in 1998-and data from these projects suggest that teaching in Japan has changed very little over the past decade. The government has introduced important reforms to change teacher prepara tion since the mid-1980s, but whether these reform initiatives will effect important change in classroom practice remains to be seen. Thus far, no study has shown signif icant change in Japanese teaching practice.
